Wunderman Goes From One Book to the Next

NEW ORLEANS -- Lester Wunderman may be promoting one book at the DMA's fall conference, but he's almost finished with his next one.

What he expects to be called "The Wunderman Papers" will be published next year and will contain speeches and writings from the early days, he said yesterday. Like his current book, an update to "Being Direct: Making Advertising Pay," the new one will be published by the DMA.

In the book, Wunderman, founder and chairman emeritus of his self-named agency, lays out his overall approach to direct marketing and includes his 19 principles that all DM companies need to know to be successful, as well as his new 12 "Consumer's Communications Bill of Rights," including:

* Tell me clearly who you are and why you are contacting me.

* Tell me clearly what you are, or are not, going to do with the information I give you.

* Don't pretend that you know me personally. You don't know me; you know some things about me.

Today, Wunderman spends his time writing, giving speeches and "getting involved when it's strategically useful" at Wunderman. The industry has grown up and become far more responsible than it was in the early days, he said.

"There will always be rogue companies," he said. "The reason there is regulation is because there are industries that abuse things -- and that's outside of our industry, too. We need to be more careful and more responsible, but I think the industry has made enormous progress."